Let Me Die
by LadyAshling
Summary: Raina Mahariel has fallen in love with her best friend since childhood, Tamlen. But everything will change when they discover an elven ruin in the Brecilian Forest.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **Everything belongs to BioWare. Thanks for letting me play!

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The light filtered through the leaves in a haze, barely penetrating the shadows cast by the large trees in the Brecilian Forest. Summer was drawing to a close as evidenced by the cooler temperatures at night and yellow-tinted leaves that lined the Dalish pathways. The trails weren't openly marked, but the elves knew them and tread on silent feet.

Raina glanced at Tamlen through the brambles and was pleased to catch him staring at her. He winked cheekily at being caught and she blushed faintly at the attention. They had grown up together and he would always be her best friend, but over the last year their relationship had shifted into romance. Raina was pretty sure the clan breathed an exasperated sigh with how long it took them to realize where their friendship was going.

Tamlen gestured that they should continue to scout the edges of the encampment and she nodded. Moving quickly and easily avoiding low hanging branches or exposed roots, the elves explored the periphery of their camp.

SNAP! Raina's ears picked up the noise immediately. Loud rustling and cursing gave away the shemlens presence. Jumping down from cover and into the path of the shemlens Tamlen joined her, his face a stormcloud and bow already drawn. Raina notched her own arrow and waited for the bumbling humans to appear.

The men spewed out of the tree line as though the forest vomited them out in its haste to be rid of the ignorant humans. One of the men tripped over his feet and almost killed himself on Tamlen's arrow. "It's a Dalish," he exclaimed to his companions.

"And you three are somewhere you shouldn't be," Tamlen remarked. Raina studied the trio and quickly noticed they weren't armed. They didn't even seem to have daggers stashed in their boots; no bulges in the leather to give them away. _Psh, only humans would enter the forests without weapons. _"Bandits, no doubt," affirmed Tamlen.

"We aren't bandits, I swear! Please don't hurt us," whined one of the humans. Tamlen scoffed in annoyance and obvious disbelief.

"You shemlen are pathetic! Hard to believe you ever drove us from our homeland." He began to move closer, slowly circling around the humans – Raina could tell he was itching to shoot them. Not necessarily kill them, but cause them pain – most definitely.

Another human piped up. "We've never done nothing to you Dalish! We didn't even know this forest was yours."

Raina rolled her eyes. _Okay, maybe the shems deserve whatever Tamlen does to them._ Disdain dripped from every word that fell from Tamlen's lips, "This forest isn't ours, fool. You've stumbled too close to our camp. You shems are like vermin – we can't trust you not to make mischief." He shot a glance at her. "What do you say, lethallan? What should we do with them?"

She had to admit that even unarmed as they were, having shems so close to their camp made her nervous. What if they let them go and they returned with more humans bent on revenge? They knew where the camp was now…it was too dangerous. "Kill them – the others will never know."

"Ha! I like the sound of that. Anything to say in your defense shems?"

The second human blubbered, "Look, we didn't come here to cause trouble. We found a cave –" "Yes," interrupted another, "a cave! With ruins like I've never seen! We thought there might be, uh…"

"Treasure?" Tamlen sighed. "So you're more akin to thieves than actual bandits."

Raina turned her head to face her friend. "I would like to see these ruins."

"So would I. I've never heard of ruins in these parts."

One of the men presented a stone tablet to Tamlen. He suspiciously lowered his bow and took the tablet from the human. Raina tightened her bowstring and carefully watched the three shems for any sudden moves while Tamlen examined the stone. "This stone has carvings...is this elvish? Written elvish," he exclaimed.

Raina's heart sped up at his words. Tamlen had always been a very proud Dalish and he felt the loss of their heritage more deeply than some of the others in the clan. Their Keeper, Marethari, once told Raina that some Dalish were more connected to the past than the present and had warned her that Tamlen was such a one. He lived for Paivel's stories and could recite many of them by heart – it was widely acknowledged that Tamlen would become the clan's storyteller when Paivel chose to pass on the torch.

"There's more in the ruins! We didn't get very far in, though. There was a demon! It was huge, with black eyes! Thank the Maker we were able to outrun it."

Tamlen scoffed. "Where is this cave," he demanded. Once the shems gave them directions Tamlen spoke to her again, "Well, do you trust them? Shall we let them go?"

"So they can tell the other shems we are here and attack our clan? No, kill them." Tamlen nodded and they quickly loosed their arrows on the humans, leaving the bodies for the forest to dispose of.

"Lets go to the cave, lethallan." Raina was tempted to suggest they go back and tell the Keeper of what they'd learned, but seeing the childlike excitement on Tamlen's face stilled her protests. The two of them headed west, following the directions the shems had given them, killing a few wolves along the way. And then, down a slight incline they saw the large cave entrance – black and empty like a giant maw intent on devouring any who entered.

The elves hesitated outside the opening. "I don't remember seeing this cave, do you?" Raina shivered as a cool blast of air wafted out of the cave. "No," she replied, "and it makes me nervous, Tamlen."

He smiled gently at her. "We don't have time to backtrack and tell the Keeper now and we're already here. Let's check it out. We have each other, Raina." She ducked her dark head and blushed to the tips of her ears. Once inside they were set upon by spiders, which they eliminated with ease and took a moment to look around. "Hey, weren't you supposed to be assisting Master Ilen today? How did you end up scouting with me?"

Raina chuckled lightly and sidled closer to Tamlen. "I wanted to be with you." He was surprised to hear her admit her feelings so obviously, but his heart leapt at her words. His fingertips brushed hers lightly, blue eyes warm and inviting, as he leaned unconsciously closer to her face – drinking in her chiseled features accented beautifully by the faint markings of a tree dancing across her forehead and down her nose. She smelled of the damp earth and sweat and something so faint he couldn't even name it, but it was Raina's scent and it warmed him all over.

Their lips were millimeters away when they were forced apart by more spiders. After a short skirmish, the moment was ruined and both of them were too embarrassed to maintain eye contact for long, so they continued through the ruins. In one of the corridors they found an elven statue that Tamlen told her was a representation of the spirit who aided Dalish souls into the Beyond when they died. Raina smiled as he walked ahead of her – the nuggets of information about the ancients and Dalish lore he shared with her were endearing. Tamlen was such a prickly personality, but underneath he was a brilliant elf and fiercely protective of those he cared about.

In the middle of the corridor they found a door, but when Raina got too close she triggered a poison trap that woke the skeletons in the ruins. "Creators!" Forgoing her bow, Raina unsheathed her daggers and quickly tore down the skeletons nearest to her before running to help Tamlen with the others.

"By the Creators," he gasped with wide eyes, "were those walking corpses?! This place is haunted!" She could only nod in fright. Tamlen took her by the shoulders and checked her over. "Are you alright, lethallan?"

Raina smiled, running her fingertips lightly up and down his forearm in reassurance. "I'm fine, lethallin. Are you injured?" He shook his head and sadly released her from his grip.

"Well, lets see what they were guarding." They shoved the heavy door open and immediately regretted it. "What is that?!" A large bear-like creature with patchy fur and bony spikes lunged at them from the back of the room. Tamlen struck the creature with his longsword while she backstabbed it relentlessly. Both of them were lightfooted enough to avoid it's massive paws, but it was more hardy than any bear they'd ever encountered and took much longer to kill.

When it finally fell at their feet, the elves were shaky from exertion and fear. This…place was haunted. Around every corner, behind every door, there were creatures intent on making this cave their tomb. Dancing lights on the crumbling stone caught Raina's eye and she looked up on the dais to see the most beautiful mirror. She gasped and Tamlen followed her gaze curiously.

He rushed up the dais and Raina was right behind him. "Look at the carvings, lethallan. They're the same as the ones on the tablet. It's elvish!" He laughed giddily. "I wonder what it says…"

"Tamlen, please lethallin, be careful." She bit her lip worriedly. "Let's bring the Keeper here so she can see it. We've cleared the cave now."

"Just a minute," he whispered. "I can see something inside. It's showing me things...places…underground?" He pressed his fingers reverently on its shifting surface. Raina gasped and reached out to yank his hand back, but it was too late.

"There is something, someone dark inside. Ah! It saw me. Creators help me, I can't look away! Lethallan!" Light and force exploded at the same moment and sent her careening off the dais and into the wall. Darkness descended.


	2. Chapter 2

_Paivel was reciting the story of the Dales to all the children of the clan. Raina was in the back with her dark hair braided down her back, listening half-heartedly, until she noticed Tamlen. Usually he was all energy and prickly to those he didn't know, but his lips moved along with Master Paivel's – word for word…with his eyes closed. When the storytelling was done, the others dispersed and Paivel retired to his aravel. _

_ Tamlen was still sitting on his log, eyes closed, like a beautiful blond statue. "Did you need something," he bit out. Raina blushed, the words turning to ash in her mouth. He opened his eyes then and saw her standing uncertainly beside him and he felt guilty. Her large dark eyes looked so hurt and the stain on her cheeks exposed her embarrassment. _

_ "I-I'm sorry. I don't mean to sound so – "_

_ "Grumpy," Raina supplied. He laughed, a bright sound from the taciturn youth, and she smiled in return. "It's okay. I'm not good at making friends either." His eyes widened and she wrung her delicate hands nervously. "That is…I would like to be friends…with you…um. Oh, nevermind." She attempted to fly away like a startled bird, but he caught her gently by the wrist._

_ "No, wait…I-I would like to be friends with you, Raina."_

* * *

_ The bushes rustled and she could hear his voice in her head. "Hold the string taut, don't squint, and your arrow will fly true." She double-checked her stance, waiting for her quarry to move out in the open. A flash of gray, the whistle of the arrow, the death shriek of her prey – it happened so quickly._

_ "Fantastic, lethallan! You didn't even hesitate!" A slightly older Tamlen materialized out of the trees behind her and turned her around for a congratulatory hug, but he stopped when he saw the wetness on her face. _

_ "A rabbit, Tamlen." Her lip trembled and then she sat on the ground, crooning a prayer to Andruil for the sacrifice of her woodland child. Tamlen patted her on the head awkwardly._

_ "It's okay, Raina. I know this is hard for you. We'll make a hunter out of you yet…but we'll stay away from rabbits." She smiled thankfully at him and he couldn't help smiling back._

* * *

"_Tamlen? Tamlen, come out. This isn't funny…TAMLEN!" _

_ Rawr! She screamed and nearly climbed out of her skin to see her friend behind her, laughing uproariously at frightening her. Without even thinking she tackled him and began smacking him with her small, open palms. "Don't do that! How could you? I thought something happened to you!" _

_ He just laughed. "Oh, don't be mad, Raina. I was just playing." Tamlen relented when she pouted. "I'm sorry to scare you. Come on, let's get the firewood we were sent for." She took his outstretched hand and tried to mask her wounded pride; he couldn't know her feelings for him. They'd been friends too long – he surely thought of her as a sister._

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_ Tamlen paced anxiously at the edge of the halla pen. Raina leaned against a tree and waited for him to speak. There was no sense rushing him; he would speak when he was ready. "My hunts haven't gone too well, Raina. I-I'm worried. If I don't take down a decent kill soon the Keeper won't allow me to go through with the Vallaslin and become a full hunter for the clan."_

_ "You worry too much, lethallin. Such things are rare. The elders expect you to be anxious and that's why they give so much time to complete your task."_

_ He ran his long fingers roughly through his short hair. "Yes, lethallan, but without a successful hunt and the rite, I can't bond with a woman." Raina stiffenend. Of course, she knew this, but she didn't realize that Tamlen worried about such things._

_ "Oh, I-I see. Is there someone you have in mind for bonding?" He turned to look at her sharply to find her staring at the ground, defeat visibly weighing her down. In an instant he was standing in front of her._

_ "Yes, lethallan, I do." She nodded sadly, unable to look at him, but he tilted her face to meet his eyes. "You." Her doe eyes widened and she searched his face for any hint of teasing…but there was none. "It's always been you, Raina. Ever since we were kids and you came to me after our storytelling. Your face is the last one I see when I close my eyes at night and the first one I search for when I wake up."_

_ Releasing the breath she didn't know she'd been holding, she threw herself into his arms, "Oh, Tamlen. How many times do I have to tell you not to scare me?" He laughed richly and wrapped his arms tightly around her._

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"TAMLEN!" Fenharel came running into the aravel at the sound of her scream. Raina was sitting up with eyes open, but unseeing. "Tamlen! Don't touch it, lethallin!" He was too shocked to speak until she began to cry and begged her dream-Tamlen in elvish to come home. It was too intimate for Fenharel and it broke his heart utterly.

Reaching out gently, he shook her out of her nightmare. "Raina, it's Fenharel. Wake up. The Keeper wants to speak to you." She came around at the sound of his voice.

"Fen…where am I? Where is Tamlen?" His gray eyes told her the news wasn't good. "Oh Creators…take me to the Keeper." Fenharel blushed and moved away.

"I think you should put clothes on first." Raina gasped to find herself in only a breast bind and a small fur blanket covering her naked nether regions. She looked up to see that her friend had already left to fetch the Keeper and she quickly donned her armor. Keeper Marethari was waiting when she stepped outside, briefly blinded by the sun.

"Keeper, how long was I unconscious? Where is Tamlen?"

"Two days, da'len. A Grey Warden brought you to camp sick with fever – he said there were darkspawn. I've been using the old magic to heal you, but it nearly bled the life from you. As for Tamlen, I was hoping you might know where he was. Duncan said he found you alone, outside a cave…" Quickly, Raina filled the Keeper in on what they'd found in the cave.

By the end of her tale she was near tears, "I told him we should come fetch you, Keeper, but you know how impulsive Tamlen is! I couldn't leave him there alone to do something stupid." Marethari sighed heavily – the girl spoke the truth, but it only caused more questions instead of giving answers.

"Hush, da'len. Do you think you are strong enough to lead Merrill to the cave? You are the only hope we have of finding Tamlen. I've already ordered the clan to pack up in preparation to move north."

"I'll go right now." The Keeper blessed her before she grabbed Merrill and led her to the cave. On their way they encountered horrible creatures that resembled men, but they reeked of death with their skin stretched tight over their skulls and they bled black, thick ooze.

"Are those darkspawn," screeched Merrill. Raina shrugged, feeling very weak from the fighting.

"I-I don't know…they…they weren't here b-before." Merrill furrowed her brows, taking note of her clanswoman's occasional stumble and her lack of color. "Let's go. We need…need to find him." Merrill bit her lip knowing that without treatment Tamlen was probably dead, but she wasn't going to say that to Raina. Everyone knew the way the two felt about each other. Sometimes the Creators could be cruel.

They battled more small pockets of darkspawn in the ruins. Merrill wished she had more time to study the ruins; what discoveries they could make! But Raina was militant in her quest to find Tamlen. Instead, they found the Grey Warden in the room with the mirror. "You're the elf I found outside the cave. I'm glad to see that you have recovered."

Raina let Merrill carry most of the conversation with the Warden – she was too tired to speak coherently for long. Her ears pricked up when Duncan said he needed to destroy the mirror. "Wait! My…friend touched the mirror and we haven't been able to find him."

Duncan turned his sad eyes to her. "I'm sorry, but I haven't seen anyone except for you. If your friend came in contact with the same illness and it's gone unchecked, I can tell you that you won't find him." He watched as the light in the elf's brown eyes dimmed.

Merrill protested destroying the mirror, a piece of elven heritage, but she was overruled by the Warden who insisted that it had been tainted and needed to be destroyed to prevent the spread of my sickness. Reluctantly, Merrill conceded to his wisdom and once the cursed mirror lay in shards on the ground the elves wearily followed Duncan back to their camp.

After Duncan spoke at length to Marethari about the illness she'd contracted, it was decided that she must leave the clan and join the Grey Wardens, in the hope that she would live to exact revenge on the darkspawn. In one day, she lost her love and her family. What else could she possibly live for?


	3. Chapter 3

Months later, Raina was a bona fide Grey Warden and had nearly succeeded at rounding up all the troops they needed to defeat the Archdemon. She still thought of Tamlen – not everyday anymore, but he was never far from her thoughts. The Gauntlet to reach the Ashes of Andraste was particularly painful for her. It took her a solid week to get over what the Guardian and Tamlen said to her during the trials.

She'd fielded both the elf and the human's advances during their journeys. They were nice enough, even if the Antivan's background was a little…checkered, but they weren't Tamlen. Her lethallin.

The rag-tag group was currently camped for the night in a clearing on their way to Orzammar. Bidding her companions a good night, Raina bedded down and wasn't asleep for long when she had a vision of the Archdemon – and it looked directly at her! She bolted upright, instantly grabbing her dagger she kept hidden under her knapsack. Alistair nearly bowled her over as she dashed out of her tent.

"I had another dream about the darkspawn!"

He nodded. "Me too, and I got the feeling that it saw us. What does that mean?" She opened her mouth to speak, but he shushed her with a frown. "Did you hear that?"

Raina felt them then – soulless creatures on the edges of camp and then they rushed them. Ten shrieks descended on the sleepy camp, but they weren't defenseless and everyone jumped in to take down the darkspawn. The companions snickered at the feeble attempt of the spawn to kill them as they cleaned their blades. Alistair walked over to her wearily, "I guess it's like Duncan always said – we can sense them and they can sense us. This camp isn't safe anymore. We need to pack up." Raina sighed at the loss of sleep, but knew he was right.

As she turned toward her tent she saw a shadowy figure by the tree line. It felt empty like a darkspawn, but it wasn't attacking, and yet there was something familiar about it. Glancing behind her to see if her companions were watching, she slipped away to the edge of the camp. As she got closer, she could make out some of the creature's facial features and her heart lodged in her throat.

"Oh, Creators…Tamlen?" He turned to face her fully then and Raina gasped. His skin was black and stretched tightly across his face, his cheeks had sunken into a death mask, some of the skin had fallen off of his arms, he'd lost his hair, and his eyes that were once the color of the sky were now a milky white. She began to keen and cry in elvish, which brought Tamlen out of the shadows.

"Lethallan, is that you? Lethallan…I am sorry…so sorry." Raina reached for him, but he jumped back and yelled. "No, you mustn't. Go…before I hurt you, lethallan!"

"I can't do that, Tamlen," she whispered. He screeched again in anguish, jerking his body back and forth.

"Please, lethallan. You must…end me. It's the only way! Sickness…spread too far…been too long. Only way!" She shook her head violently, flinging large tears into the dirt. "I'm sorry…I should have…kissed you…in cave. Now I never will…always loved you, ma sa'lath!"

"I love you too, emma vhenan. I will end your pain." Tamlen nodded eagerly as she pulled her dagger from her sheath. "Abelas…dareth shiral." He closed his eyes peacefully and tilted his head back to expose his neck. Before she lost her nerve, Raina sliced cleanly through his neck, silently as befitted a sacrificial killing. His body crumpled to the ground and she followed with a death keen on her lips.

She pulled his battered body in her lap, cradling and weeping his loss all over again. Knowing he was free from pain was a small blessing when she thought about how he'd suffered for so many months. All this time she'd mourned him as one dead, yet here he was…

Her companions were standing nearby, having witnessed the entire exchange, but no one knew how to approach the heartbroken elf. "Ir abelas, ma vhenan." Raina looked up with red -rimmed eyes to see her team. Sniffing back tears, she managed to speak, "I need water, scented with flowers or oil. He must be b-buried," she took a ragged breath, "according to tradition. I need a staff of oak and a cedar branch, or something similar." They dispersed to locate the items she requested; they may not find them all, but they would try.

Leliana arrived with water that she'd boiled with various flower petals and mint. Morrigan returned from her corner of the camp with the Grand Oak's branch from the Brecilian Forest. Raina smiled gratefully and then asked Leliana for a thin cloth to act as a shroud. When the women were gone, she gently removed his cracked leathers. They were stained with gore and Creator's knew what, caked in layers of mud, and once they were gone she threw them as far away from her as she could.

His lean physique had been stolen by the taint, replaced with a skeletal frame and black skin stretched across it like a hide on a tanner's rack. She washed her hands in the hot water while reciting the traditional pleas to the Creators to accept his soul. Then, she ripped part of her under tunic and used it as a rag to wash Tamlen clean. When she reached his neck, she found a thread-bare length of cord, buried under months of grime and she yanked it off to throw it away until she realized there was something hanging on it.

It flashed in the light from Morrigan's camp, hitting Raina like a punch in the gut. It was a ring – a Dalish promise ring. Blessed and given to him by the Keeper for the woman he intended to bond his life to. She clutched it desperately in her hand as the tears fell anew. He'd worn it all this time and he must have been waiting for the right time to give it to her.

"Oh, lethallin – emma lath!" Rinsing it off quickly in the scented water, Raina slid it on the ring finger of her left hand and continued to wash the only one she'd ever loved for the burial shroud.

Leliana stood in the distance with the cloth, crying silent tears for her friend's pain, waiting for a good time to go to her with the shroud. Zevran appeared from the woods with Alistair and Raina's mabari, Zola, carrying a cedar branch. They joined Leliana and watched as their leader wept and washed her friend. Zev sighed, "I guess we all know why she turned us down, eh, Alistair?" Alistair pulled a battered rose from his pack, gently caressing the soft petals with watery eyes, and nodded.

Tamlen's body was finally as clean as she could make it with the taint corrupting his once handsome features. Glancing at Leliana, Raina indicated that she was ready for the covering. Leaving the men behind, the redhead helped the elf wrap what they could of his body with the amount of cloth they had. Unfortunately, his legs were still visible, but Raina didn't seem concerned.

Her gravelly voice surprised Leliana, "Is the…ground prepared?" The rogue nodded and waved Alistair over to carry Tamlen's body to the spot Zola dug out for his mistress. Raina wearily stood up and followed Alistair. She was touched to see that all of her companions, including Morrigan, came to pay their respects, as well. Once they reached the place, Zevran hopped in the hole and reached up to take Tamlen's body from Alistair.

"Stop!" Raina took a deep breath. "I just need to do one more thing…please," she breathed. She walked toward Tamlen and very softly pressed her lips against the cloth, on the lips underneath. Tears poured down her face as she remembered the way he looked in life – blond hair, dancing blue eyes, pink lips. "Now I've kissed you, lethallin. Ma'arlath."

She stepped back quickly and waved to Alistair to continue. Leliana wiped furiously at her eyes, even the men blinked back tears as they carefully laid his body in the ground. Raina gently arranged the staff and cedar branch around him before signaling Zola to cover him up. Alistair surprised her then when he stopped the dog and laid a single red rose in the center of Tamlen's chest. Raina could only nod her thanks through her tears and he smiled sadly in return. As Zola covered his mistress's love, Leliana began to sing the elvish eulogy. She sang along in her mind being too overcome with emotion to sing aloud.

The final note hung in the dawn's light and with sorrow in every step Raina walked away from the buried remains of her heart. The Blight wouldn't stop for a heartbroken elf.

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**A/N: **Translations from wiki/Elven_language

**Ma sa'lath – my one love**

**Emma vhenan – my heart**

**Abelas – sorrow (also used as an apology)**

**Dareth shiral – safe journey**

**Ir abelas, ma vhenan – I am filled with sorrow for your loss, my heart.**

**Emma lath – my love**

**Ma'arlath – I love you**


	4. Chapter 4

Their moment as Wardens had finally arrived. They stood redeemed to their countrymen after the Landsmeet. Now, they just needed to stay alive long enough to kill the Archdemon that was grounded at the top of Fort Drakon – and Raina was ready.

Last night, Riordan told Raina and Alistair that the taint they willingly took into their bodies during their Joining was what enabled them to kill the Archdemon. Whoever killed it would absorb the essence of the Old God within the Archdemon and die with it. If someone who was not a Grey Warden killed it, the soul would simply travel to another darkspawn and never truly be defeated. After speaking with Riordan, she found Morrigan waiting in her room to explain to her about a ritual that would allow the Warden to kill the Archdemon and not die.

Raina listened to the witch's plan, which entailed convincing Alistair to sleep with Morrigan and conceiving a child. The elf already knew that Alistair would never agree to such a thing, no matter how much she tried to convince him. But, even more than that Raina didn't want a "loop in her hole." She wanted to die.

Death would be an escape from a life without him – her Tamlen. It would be a mercy and she fully intended to use it. After she turned Morrigan's offer down, the witch left the party permanently. Raina was sad to see her go, but realized it was for the best. She didn't tell Alistair of Morrigan's offer, either. Some things were better left unsaid.

The Dalish woman turned to loot the two ogres and emissary before exiting to the top of the tower. She could feel the roar of the Archdemon in her bones as it shook the tower, rattling ancient dust from the masonry. She gave her three companions one final sad smile before kicking open the double doors and rushing to meet destiny.

Calling the dwarven reserves to help them out, she and Leliana ran to a high point and used their longbows to rain death on the Archdemon with elemental and poisoned arrows. Whenever they needed to take a break, Raina used the ballistae scattered across the tower on the dragon. Alistair and Zevran kept the squadrons of darkspawn off their backs, going through health potions left and right, but it seemed their methods were working. Raina could see the dragon weakening, at last!

It collapsed and Raina ran down the parapet to finish the beast when Alistair stopped her. "No, it should be me, Raina." The elf only smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. She should have known that the valiant and noble Templar would try to prevent her from sacrificing herself.

Placing her small hand on his chest she only shook her head. "I have lost everything that I once lived for, my friend. Let me die." His eyes widened in horror and he made to protest, but she shushed him with a finger on his lips. "I cannot live without him. Please, let me die and join him in the Beyond…lethallin."

"Go," he whispered. "Dareth shiral, friend." Raina sighed and stepped back with purpose. The dragon was beginning to raise its head, but she would make sure that it would be the last time. Grabbing a nearby sword that was twice her size, Raina ran with all her remaining strength, sliding the tip of the greatsword under the Archdemon's chin, slicing all through it's long neck. It flopped weakly on the ground splashing in a lake-sized puddle of its own blood. With a guttural cry, Raina jammed the sword straight through its monstrous head.

Light poured out of the Archdemon and cocooned the Dalish who was hanging on for dear life. The ground shook beneath the companion's feet that were watching in disbelief. Alistair watched guiltily, believing that he should be the one to sacrifice himself, but then he managed to catch a glimpse of the euphoric look on Raina's face. He heard her quiet voice whispering in his ear again as he watched, "Let me die."

Then the world shattered and the three of them were thrown across the tower. They came to only after Wynne patched them up with her healing magic to find themselves ensconced in the Palace. The next few days were a flurry of activity in the capital as Anora was crowned Queen and delegated the rebuilding of the city. A funeral was also carefully planned according to Dalish tradition since Raina's clan could not be located. They had no luck in locating Tamlen's resting place, so they chose the prettiest part of the Brecilian Forest they could and prayed that the two elves found each other in the Beyond.

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**A/N: **Please leave reviews - they are greatly appreciated! Hope you enjoyed reading! See you on the next story :)


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